Gena Melissa Scenario Melissa, the school librarian attended the monthly English Language Arts and Reading PLC meeting in the school’s conference room to determine how she could best serve the English department and their students.
Excellent In the meeting, Gena, the 8th grade Pre-AP/GT English teacher, mentioned she was preparing to engage her students in poetry study. While she has taught this unit in the past, Gena expressed that her students this year seem to struggle with making their own meaning from texts. She described how they have been able to interpret just about any text put in front of them, but they rely heavily on her questioning to guide them in drawing conclusions.
Excellent Since poems convey such powerful meaning in such compact pieces, she expressed a need for some ideas to help students use their own questioning to guide their interpretation. Melissa shared that she had co-taught reading comprehension lessons with the 6th grade teacher during the previous grading period, and she had some ideas that she would love to collaborate with Gena to develop into a lesson for her 8th grade Pre-AP/GT students. Melissa volunteered to gather a few ideas and suggested meeting with Gena during her conference period the next day to further discuss the ideas. Proactive librarian + Willing classroom teacher = Success
Today’s Date: March 4 Department: English Course: Pre-AP, GT English Average Number of Students per Class: 20 Classroom Teacher: Gena Montgomery Unit Title/Topic: Slammed with Poetry Grade Level: 8 Periods: 5 and 7 Date(s) for Coteaching: April 4
Purpose—Unit Overview This unit will begin with students watching a video of slam poetry and listening to their principal read the poem “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand. Students will use learn questioning strategies to help them interpret the meaning of poetry. After using questioning to interpret several poems, students will create a collection of 3 thematically related poems and write an original poem that fits with the thematic collection. Students will perform their original poem at the school-wide poetry slam at the end of National Poetry Month. Brilliant way to involve the principal. You both will need to model using think alouds before students engage with Strand's poems - the day before or with another poem before the principal arrives on the scene.
Student Outcome Objectives
(Items marked with an asterisk are part of the lesson; the others are part of the unit.)
Reading:
Please include the TEKS number.
*8.4 Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. *8 Fig. 19(B) - ask literal, interpretive, evaluative, and universal questions of text
Writing: 8.15 (B) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas. write a poem using: (i) poetic techniques (e.g., rhyme, scheme, meter) (ii) figurative language (e.g., personification, idioms, hyperbole) (iii) graphic elements (e.g., word position)
Listening/Speaking: 8.27 Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students are expected to give an organized presentation with a specific point of view, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, natural gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.
AASL Standards: (Items marked with an asterisk are part of the lesson plan; the others are part of the unit) Standard 1: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge. 1.1 Skills *1.1.3 Develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search for new understanding. 1.2 Dispositions in Action *1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts. 1.2.2 Demonstrate confidence and self-direction by making independent choices in the selection of resources and information.. Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
3.1 Skills 3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively. Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
4.1 Skills 4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.
Assessment Tool(s) for Students: Rubric (This is the same rubric the teacher will use to assess the graphic organizer.)
Usually a rubric has a place for students' names and total points. Are you comfortable with focusing on the # of questions? If students will be using this independently, the rubric should also have their theme and/or the poem on which this is based (or maybe that will be on the graphic organizer I did not see.)
Assessment Tool(s) for Educators: Rubric (This is the same rubric the students will use to self-assess their work.) In assessing the students' graphic organizers, Gena will review the questions to determine how well the questions relate to each category, and Melissa will assess the students' accuracy in determining the QARs.
Content Goals: 1. Read a poem and use questioning to develop an understanding and interpretation of the poem. 2. Categorize questions by literary devices.
I have not seen this done: "categorize questions by literary devices." I am assuming you have tried this and it works!
I have worked with students to examine a text focusing only on one literary device at a time. I works great with very short pieces like small excerpts of prose or poetry. The strategy all but demands students engage in multiple close readings of a text. When they begin exploring the "between the lines" questions and answers, students begin to see how the use of a variety of literary devices all contribute to the same underlying theme.
Process Goals: 1. Ask literal and interpretive questions about a text. 2. Categorize questions based on the location of the answer: one the line, between the lines, and unanswered in the text.
#2 sounds like it could also be part of a "drawing inferences" lesson. Please choose just ONE RCS to coteach using think aloud modeling.
Final Product: At the end of the unit students will have put together a collection of poems on a common theme and will have created an original poem on the same theme that uses the studied poetic devices such as structure, detail, word choice, imagery, and figurative language.
Is this the inquiry part? How will they choose the theme? How will you meet the A.4.2 Rubric criterion for "rich resources"? Will you create a pathfinder to support students in locating poems for the anthology?
I assume the original poem is for the poetry slam.
Unit Evaluation/Comments Relevance:Students will encounter increasingly difficult texts as they progress through school and through life. Whether they are tackling more advanced texts in their high school AP classes, reading articles from the school databases for research projects, completing required course readings in high school, or just reading the directions to assemble a new TV stand for their home, students WILL be required to pick up texts they have never seen before, read the text, and interpret it. The ability to question the text and determine meaning independently will help them understand what they read and be more successful in school and in life.
Resources, Materials, and Technology Responsibilities for gathering or creating resources: Melissa will find videos of Poetry Slam performances and other poetry resources (websites, anthologies, etc.). Melissa and Gena will create the rubric and graphic organizer together. Gena will find the other poems to use during instruction.
Instructional responsibilities during implementation for each partner or joint responsibilities for both partners: During the presentation, Melissa will read the poem and model the questioning strategy. At the same time, Gena will record questions from Melissa and the students in the graphic organizer projected on the whiteboard. When the time comes to determine the QARs, Gena will take over leading the class discussion by modeling the three types of questions and soliciting responses from students while Melissa codes the questions in the graphic organizer. During the guided practice, both Melissa and Gena will monitor students’ group work and completion of the graphic organizer.
Technology tools integration (or explanation of why technology is not part of the lesson/unit): Since Gena’s students all have Chromebooks, we will be using Google Classroom and Google Docs. The graphic organizer will be put into a Google Doc that the students can then fill out and make copies of for additional poems. These items will be turned in via Google Classroom which will organize everything into folders specific to each class. Students will be using the internet to find other poems that match their chosen theme.
Materials (consumables such as graphic organizers, notemaking tools, art supplies) Our graphic organizer will be distributed in electronic format through Google Classroom so students may collaborate in a Google Doc. Students will be able to choose to write their original poem using paper and pencil/pen if they prefer it to typing. The final product will be typed.
From J. Moreillon, Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Secondary School Libraries (Chicago: American Library Association, 2012). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 2.5 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/.*
Gena
Melissa
Scenario
Melissa, the school librarian attended the monthly English Language Arts and Reading PLC meeting in the school’s conference room to determine how she could best serve the English department and their students.
Excellent
In the meeting, Gena, the 8th grade Pre-AP/GT English teacher, mentioned she was preparing to engage her students in poetry study. While she has taught this unit in the past, Gena expressed that her students this year seem to struggle with making their own meaning from texts. She described how they have been able to interpret just about any text put in front of them, but they rely heavily on her questioning to guide them in drawing conclusions.
Excellent
Since poems convey such powerful meaning in such compact pieces, she expressed a need for some ideas to help students use their own questioning to guide their interpretation. Melissa shared that she had co-taught reading comprehension lessons with the 6th grade teacher during the previous grading period, and she had some ideas that she would love to collaborate with Gena to develop into a lesson for her 8th grade Pre-AP/GT students. Melissa volunteered to gather a few ideas and suggested meeting with Gena during her conference period the next day to further discuss the ideas.
Proactive librarian + Willing classroom teacher = Success
Today’s Date: March 4
Department: English
Course: Pre-AP, GT English
Average Number of Students per Class: 20
Classroom Teacher: Gena Montgomery
Unit Title/Topic: Slammed with Poetry
Grade Level: 8 Periods: 5 and 7
Date(s) for Coteaching: April 4
Purpose—Unit Overview
This unit will begin with students watching a video of slam poetry and listening to their principal read the poem “Eating Poetry” by Mark Strand. Students will use learn questioning strategies to help them interpret the meaning of poetry. After using questioning to interpret several poems, students will create a collection of 3 thematically related poems and write an original poem that fits with the thematic collection. Students will perform their original poem at the school-wide poetry slam at the end of National Poetry Month.
Brilliant way to involve the principal. You both will need to model using think alouds before students engage with Strand's poems - the day before or with another poem before the principal arrives on the scene.
Student Outcome Objectives
(Items marked with an asterisk are part of the lesson; the others are part of the unit.)
Reading:
Please include the TEKS number.
*8.4 Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provide evidence from text to support their understanding.
*8 Fig. 19(B) - ask literal, interpretive, evaluative, and universal questions of text
Writing:
8.15 (B) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about real or imagined people, events, and ideas.
write a poem using: (i) poetic techniques (e.g., rhyme, scheme, meter) (ii) figurative language (e.g., personification, idioms, hyperbole) (iii) graphic elements (e.g., word position)
Listening/Speaking:
8.27 Listening and Speaking/Speaking. Students speak clearly and to the point, using the conventions of language. Students are expected to give an organized presentation with a specific point of view, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, natural gestures, and conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively.
AASL Standards: (Items marked with an asterisk are part of the lesson plan; the others are part of the unit)
Standard 1: Inquire, think critically, and gain knowledge.
1.1 Skills
*1.1.3 Develop and refine a range of questions to frame the search for new understanding.
1.2 Dispositions in Action
*1.2.1 Display initiative and engagement by posing questions and investigating the answers beyond the collection of superficial facts.
1.2.2 Demonstrate confidence and self-direction by making independent choices in the selection of resources and information..
Standard 3: Share knowledge and participate ethically and productively as members of our democratic society.
3.1 Skills
3.1.3 Use writing and speaking skills to communicate new understandings effectively.
Standard 4: Pursue personal and aesthetic growth.
4.1 Skills
4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats and genres.
Prior Knowledge: Poetry, Literary Devices (personification, metaphors, similes, hyperbole, imagery, sensory language), detail, word choice; structure (rhyme scheme, stanza)
Graphic Organizer Missing? Found it hidden below.
Assessment Tool(s) for Students: Rubric (This is the same rubric the teacher will use to assess the graphic organizer.)
Usually a rubric has a place for students' names and total points. Are you comfortable with focusing on the # of questions? If students will be using this independently, the rubric should also have their theme and/or the poem on which this is based (or maybe that will be on the graphic organizer I did not see.)
Assessment Tool(s) for Educators: Rubric (This is the same rubric the students will use to self-assess their work.)
In assessing the students' graphic organizers, Gena will review the questions to determine how well the questions relate to each category, and Melissa will assess the students' accuracy in determining the QARs.
Content Goals:
1. Read a poem and use questioning to develop an understanding and interpretation of the poem.
2. Categorize questions by literary devices.
I have not seen this done: "categorize questions by literary devices." I am assuming you have tried this and it works!
I have worked with students to examine a text focusing only on one literary device at a time. I works great with very short pieces like small excerpts of prose or poetry. The strategy all but demands students engage in multiple close readings of a text. When they begin exploring the "between the lines" questions and answers, students begin to see how the use of a variety of literary devices all contribute to the same underlying theme.
Process Goals:
1. Ask literal and interpretive questions about a text.
2. Categorize questions based on the location of the answer: one the line, between the lines, and unanswered in the text.
#2 sounds like it could also be part of a "drawing inferences" lesson. Please choose just ONE RCS to coteach using think aloud modeling.
Final Product:
At the end of the unit students will have put together a collection of poems on a common theme and will have created an original poem on the same theme that uses the studied poetic devices such as structure, detail, word choice, imagery, and figurative language.
Is this the inquiry part? How will they choose the theme? How will you meet the A.4.2 Rubric criterion for "rich resources"? Will you create a pathfinder to support students in locating poems for the anthology?
I assume the original poem is for the poetry slam.
Unit Evaluation/Comments
Relevance:Students will encounter increasingly difficult texts as they progress through school and through life. Whether they are tackling more advanced texts in their high school AP classes, reading articles from the school databases for research projects, completing required course readings in high school, or just reading the directions to assemble a new TV stand for their home, students WILL be required to pick up texts they have never seen before, read the text, and interpret it. The ability to question the text and determine meaning independently will help them understand what they read and be more successful in school and in life.
Resources, Materials, and Technology
Responsibilities for gathering or creating resources:
Melissa will find videos of Poetry Slam performances and other poetry resources (websites, anthologies, etc.). Melissa and Gena will create the rubric and graphic organizer together. Gena will find the other poems to use during instruction.
Instructional responsibilities during implementation for each partner or joint responsibilities for both partners:
During the presentation, Melissa will read the poem and model the questioning strategy. At the same time, Gena will record questions from Melissa and the students in the graphic organizer projected on the whiteboard. When the time comes to determine the QARs, Gena will take over leading the class discussion by modeling the three types of questions and soliciting responses from students while Melissa codes the questions in the graphic organizer. During the guided practice, both Melissa and Gena will monitor students’ group work and completion of the graphic organizer.
Technology tools integration (or explanation of why technology is not part of the lesson/unit):
Since Gena’s students all have Chromebooks, we will be using Google Classroom and Google Docs. The graphic organizer will be put into a Google Doc that the students can then fill out and make copies of for additional poems. These items will be turned in via Google Classroom which will organize everything into folders specific to each class. Students will be using the internet to find other poems that match their chosen theme.
Materials (consumables such as graphic organizers, notemaking tools, art supplies)
Our graphic organizer will be distributed in electronic format through Google Classroom so students may collaborate in a Google Doc. Students will be able to choose to write their original poem using paper and pencil/pen if they prefer it to typing. The final product will be typed.
From J. Moreillon, Coteaching Reading Comprehension Strategies in Secondary School Libraries (Chicago: American Library Association, 2012). Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 2.5 License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/.*